AmbergrisCaye.com Home
Posted By: Marty Today's Belize News: September 2, 2013 - 09/02/13 11:13 AM


FOR TODAY'S BELIZE WEATHER, CLICK HERE

Click for our Daily Tropical Weather Report.

Specials and Events

Last night's TV news on Channel 7 and Channel 5
Also with the most recent Open Your Eyes, and the Dickie Bradley Specials

The latest Tia Chocolate column is ready for reading!!!
El Tata Duende:
When inspiration for this new venture struck, my first thought was: my grandmother will be rolling over in her grave. Purists may be very unhappy as I take on stories, legends really, and bastardize them as only I can. But you see, one important lesson I got when I was learning about literature and reading was that authors (and I use that term loosely for myself) - they write what they know. Often, it is what has been living in their heads all their lives, and they know it so intimately. Others write what they have lived, what they know they ought to have lived, or what they know they want.

Misc Belizean Sources

"Habitat for Hounds"
"Habitat for Hounds" is a community initiative geared towards providing well crafted, low cost dog homes for dog owners.

September Celebration Specials
Happy September! There are many great deals to be found this September, including Running W's September Celebrations Package and Tropic Air's Kids Fly Free promotion. Many Cayo hotels are also offering discounts for the month. If you'd like to see all the events for the month, check out this link.

Vanny Pat New Queen of the West
Congratulations, Vanny Pat, for winning the Queen of the West pageant last night. In related news, while Karen Middleton didn't win the crown, she represented Belize well at the Miss America Latina del Mundo pageant last night in Cancun.

Sunday Show Day at Express Oh! Cafe
Express Oh! is having their big Sunday Show day today. it'll be after the Santa Elena sports day. Emmanuel Mangar and Dania Arana will be there playing and singing. It'll be a great time for the whole family. They'll even have face painting. Have fun!\ In related news, the Central Cayo football is tomorrow morning at 10:00am behind the Santa Elena basketball court. "Every one is invited to Express-Oh Caf� on Sunday, Sept 1st at 4pm for our first SUNDAY SHOW @ Express-Oh! Enjoy live performances of dance, music, story telling and much more! Delicious food and drinks will be on sale! Art and local crafts people will also have displays set up for your viewing/purchasing pleasure! So, bring the family and your friends to enjoy this fun Sunday Evening Show!! Admission is free."

September celebrations officially launched
The official ceremony marking the opening of the September Celebrations was held this morning in St. George's Caye village, Belize district. Present on the first capital of Belize for the festivities were dignitaries, including the Governor General Sir Colville Young, Minister of Tourism Manuel Heredia and members of the diplomatic and consular corps. This year, Belizeans are celebrating the 215th anniversary of the Battle of St. George's Caye and the 32nd anniversary of nationhood, with Independence being granted on September 21st., 1981.

CTV3

Members In The Health Sector Learn To Have Better P.R
Many at times, more than we actually would like, the services offered by nurses, doctors and other staff members working at the various community hospitals across the jewel are put into question. Almost on a daily basis Belizeans can be heard on the airwaves voicing their concern about the way they were treated at one of the nation's hospitals, the Northern Regional Hospital and the Corozal Community Hospital are not excluded. With this in mind various stakeholders in the Health Industry engaged in a two day customer service workshop in the Corozal District which finalized today. During the two days session participants were provided with the necessary tools to deal with patients suffering from HIV/AIDS and to carry out their work in a more professional manner.

Two Honduran Nationals Detained For Apparent Human Trafficking
The Mexican Embassy in Belize in conjunction with the Government of Belize, coordinated the repatriation to Mexico of a 12 year old Mexican who was found by Belizean authorities in Belizean territory near the border with Guatemala in the company of two undocumented Honduran nationals who have criminal records, were recently deported from the U.S. and one of them is a member of the gang MS-13. Belizean authorities, with the support of the Embassy of Mexico in Belize, are investigating a possible case of human trafficking, because the child is 12 years. We understand that the two men, who are older than 30 years, convinced the child to leave her house located in Balanc�n, Tabasco Mexico and accompany them from the state of Tabasco, Mexico, through Guatemala to Belize. With the support of the Mexican Embassy and members of the Department of Human Services today the child was handed over to Mexican authorities and her mother.

No Foul Play Suspected In Death Of U.S National
Corozal Police do not suspect foul play in the death of a U.S National who passed away in Corozal early this morning. Edward Stivers, 61 year old retired U.S National of Ohio who is presently staying at La Copa Banana in Corozal, reported to police that at around 5:00 this morning he was asleep when he heard a noise coming from his wife, 62 year old Mary Stivers, retired U.S National also of Ohio. All indications are that Mary was experiencing a seizure. She died a short while after. We understand that the deceased also suffered from cholesterol and hypertension. As mentioned no foul play is suspected in Mary's death.

Free Medical Check-ups For Residents Living In Rural Areas
Residents of five villages in the Orange Walk District are presently receiving much needed medical assistance. Visiting the doctor is often very costly especially for people living in rural communities but today in efforts of closing that gap, free medical services were provided to residents of Guinea Grass Village. Although it is not the first year that the U.S medical team visits Belize, the administrator of the mission says Belize is like their second home. For them, it is all about the love for what they do and that is taking care of people's health. Bernadine Peters, Administrator, Belize Medical Mission "The people are beautiful they need a lot of medical services, the adults, we usually take care of their diabetic medications if they need anything for blood pressure for pain, for the arthritis, for vision we bring them reading glasses for the children we do a lot of deworming medications, for children we see that they are up to date we ask their parent if they are up to date with their vaccinations and if they have fever, colds, cough and we have other teams coming, special teams coming. The sister here, sister Lupe, the Ministry of health nurse we right refer to ent, refer to cardiology or refer to surgery she will continue with that so we love coming to Guinea Grass it is a great village and we are able to do this every year so we are able to do continues here."

Orange Walk Police Recover Items Stolen From BCVI
Orange Walk Police have been able to recover two important pieces of equipment that were stolen from the Belize Council for the Visually Impaired Orange Walk branch between Friday August 23rd and Monday August 26th. At around 12:30 yesterday afternoon police visited a bushy lot located off the Boundary Road in the Louisiana Area where they found two computers with all their accessories inside a plastic bag. Further checks revealed that both computers WHICH hold important information belong to BCVI. No one was in the area at the time the items were found.

Blogs

Sarteneja news and specials from Sapodilla Caye
3 wheel cargo bikes now available on Ambergris Caye - Carry 100 lbs. of Cargo While You Get a Workout! Imagine being able to get your daily exercise without having to schedule time for it or pay any gym fees. Now imagine being able to run all your errands, including grocery shopping at the same time. Add to that the fact that you are saving money on gas, electricity and taxi fare as you exercise and run your errands. Sound too good to be true? It's not if you've got a cargo bike. Transport or cargo bikes are very popular in Europe, where bike riding is encouraged by governments who recognize its benefits. Riding a bike 30 minutes 6 days a week cuts lifetime risk of both stroke and heart attack by 50%.As well as lowering the risk of type 2 diabetes, arthritis and certain forms of cancer. Cycling also offers an answer to 3 of the biggest problems facing us today, the high cost of energy, climate change and obesity.

A Guide: Eight Tips for Traveling By Bus in Belize
Belize is a very small country with a very small population (about 325,000 people) and relatively few highways. The greatest country width (east to west) is 68 miles. And length only 170 miles! It's one of the coolest coolest COOLEST things about Belize. You can go from barrier cayes� to a Mayan temple surrounded by jungle in about an hour. But that sort of flitting about sure ain't gonna happen by bus. It's going to cost quite a bit more to flit�whether going by one of the two air lines in the country or, for those who live the lifestyle of the rich and famous, by helicopter. If you don't have a car on the mainland, bus is the most popular way to get around Belize. It can be slow, but IT IS CHEAP (Belize City to San Ignacio is only $8bzd) and you get to really see the landscape, the people and the local color of Belize. If you live in the country, you always see someone you know. And for all of these reasons, I really like it. Sometimes there are problems� We had this issue on my last bus just outside of Dangriga.

Belize - Ready, Willing and Able to Help with Disabilities
It was good to hear that UNICEF Belize and other relevant parties were busy on Thursday, the 22nd of August, working to improve the lot of children with disabilities. Belize has signed and ratified the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, and Thursday's work concentrated on - get ready for it - the Situational Analysis of Children with Disabilities and the Situational Analysis of Blind and Visually Impaired Children. OK, the names, as usual with bureaucratic agencies, are complicated, but the aim is clear. In order to develop the best policies to help people with disabilities, it's important to get a better understanding of their current situation. The situational analysis showed that 36.4% of Belizean children age two to nine are at risk of having one or more disabilities in areas such as the physical, hearing or seeing. According the analyses, that figure represents an increase of some 10% since 2006.

"All by Myself" in San Pedro, Ambergris Caye, Belize.
Up around 04.00 hours yesterday morning. Going to bed just after 22.00 hours the night before was partly to do with it. That plus I don't normally need that much sleep anyway. The early 'up' was good though because it enabled me to knock-out (not an expression that finds a lot of favour with Rose at the moment!) yesterday's edition before the morning's football ( non UK readers soccer ) fest began. As it turned out it proved to be not much of a fest. More like a snack with no tasty bits. But � It was football, so I watched it. With the football 'out of the way'I turned my attention to looking after Rose (thanks from both of us by the way for the nice messages) and made her breakfast (nothing too adventurous or displaying great culinary skills I am sorry to say) which she ate in bed.

Cuss Like A Belizean
The use of profanity is popular in almost every culture, in some more common than others. In Belize, cursing is part of everyday life, and bad words are used openly in conversations. Some swear words are harsher than others and are used specifically with the intention of offending someone, some are usually used only to "spice up" a conversation. Let me introduce you to a few of the most common Belizean swear words, and since Kriol is an adaptation of English, you will notice that some are similar to the ones you are probably very familiar with. Or not.

International Sources

Tour Belize Through the Eyes of Guest Blogger Amanda Williams
From lush jungle, to long sandy beaches to a bustling city center, Belize has it all. Guest blogger Amanda Williams from A Dangerous Business has been there, done that, and wants to share her Central American adventure with you. Amanda went on the Land of Belize tour with Intrepid Travel, and documented her journey with a videocamera. TourRadar got an exclusive interview with Amanda, in which she offered some great tips to anyone looking to tour Belize (or anywhere else!) in the near future: TR: What was your favorite part of the Belize trip? AW: Definitely the time we spent on Caye Caulker. It was so relaxing and refreshing to be by the water. Also, the day-long sailing/snorkeling trip I did was amazing and will be hard to beat!

Discover the Secrets of Beautiful Belize
Belize, a country of approximately 311,000 people, rests on the eastern coast of Central America. Northeast of Guatemala and south of Mexico, only 185 miles long and 75 miles wide, and formerly known as British Honduras, Belize gained its independence from Britain in 1981, making it the only English-speaking country in all of Central America. Offering a subtropical climate with brisk, prevailing trade winds from the Caribbean and an average temperature of 80 degrees Fahrenheit, Belize has two seasons: the dry season from December to May and the green or rainy season from June to November. The capital, Belmopan, is in the Cayo District, just one of seven districts in the country. I landed in Belize City, the former capital, and took a taxi to the water taxi port and a boat to San Pedro, a town on Ambergris Caye, pronounced "key." This 25-square-mile island is the largest island in Belize and features dining, shopping, nightlife, and accommodations including budget-friendly and luxury resorts. I had the pleasure of staying at Xanadu Island Resort, which offers eco-friendly accommodations containing monolithic domes (made of fireproof, soundproof, hurricane proof, and steel-reinforced concrete) combined with thatched roofs. The grounds are gorgeous, overlooking a private pool and beachfront. The nature reserve on the property features an elevated walking path that affords visitors up-close views of native birds and wildlife.

© Ambergris Caye Belize Message Board